Spectator Mode + The Next Three Champions

As many of you avid video gamers are aware, the Electronic Entertainment Expo ( E3 ) is currently wrapping up in Los Angeles. During one of Gamespot's LiveCam tour's, essentially a guy walking around looking at stuff to give viewers an interactive experience, the camera man wandered into Riot Games both and gave us our first peak at what Riot had in store for us.

First off, Riot has announced that Spectator Mode, a mode in which players can view other in progress games as benevolent observer, is nearing completion. Below are a few red posts about the mode and give a few details on how it is going to unfold.

So can we use it for any game?

Our goal was to have spectator mode ready for Dreamhack to improve the shoutcasting and streaming experience for everyone. As such the system currently supports custom games only. This does not mean the Dreamhack version of spectator represents the final feature set or scope for the system

- rjcombo, Systems Designer, via the official forums.

When is it coming?

We want to launch the feature on the live servers as soon as possible after Dreamhack. That being said, there's a big difference between supporting a handful of shoutcasters and supporting the worldwide player community. The team is hard at work making sure the launch goes smoothly, and we'll have more details about those plans soon.

- rjcombo, Systems Designer, via the official forums.

Got more questions on this upcoming feature? Then check out this thread on the official forums where rjcombo is dicussing all sorts of odds and ends with fellow summoners.

Secondly, we have a preview of the next three champions to enter the league!

Yorick the Grave Digger

We already know a little bit about Yorick, but we've been given a bit more detail.

Digs up Ghasts with his shovel ( low cooldown & low lifespan )

3 Different kinds of Ghasts, each with unique abilities ( i.e One of them is green and explodes/slows )

There is also mention of him being available for in game demo in the booth, perhaps we will see them when Riot officially shares the content with us?

Leona the Radiant Dawn

Leona is an upcoming champion to enter the League and I have to say I am completely excited. Ever since I started playing this game I've wanted two things; a female tank champion and a champion who wields the classic sword and board. Leona is going to deliver on both of those fronts!

Her ultimate will be a generate a beam of light which deals damage and stuns after a short delay

Elemental association with fire

"First in / Last Out" Playstyle

It was just the other day I was telling one of my friends how incredibly pumped I would be to see a female sword and shield champion in light plate running around. I'm glad we are finally getting a female champion who isn't so.. revealing?

Skarnerthe Crystal Vanguard

The third and final of the future champions is Skarner. He is a scorpion like fellow who boasts a giant mane and an even larger set of pinchers. As you may remember from when Maokai came out, I am a giant fan of non-humaniod champions so I can't wait for this creepy crawler to hit the Fields of Justice.

Leader of a new race of Scorpian/Bug people

Has an ability that impales a champion and drags them around

Some of you may remember around the time Brand was released a few "in progress" images were erroneously included into a since taken down art spotlight. You can see a very, very early model of Skarner here in a few different color variations.

Want to watch the video that started all this hubbub for yourself? Check out the last ~8 minutes of this broadcast to get yourself caught up on all the action. The video also mentions grand things stirring for the second half of 2011, I hope it is what I expect it to be! Keep in mind that any of the abilities and concepts spoiled here are subject to change.

If you are like me and crave more information and better pictures of the upcoming champions, don't fret! Riot has mentioned earlier in the week that they plan on sharing everything they displayed at E3 with us "eventually".

(( EDIT: It appears the original broadcast link doesn't show the entire 8 hour long footage anymore, thus the footage of Riot games is trimmed down at the end. You can catch a user upload of it here.))